This fall, both of my kids were on a Pony Club mounted games team that flew out to BC to represent Ontario at the nationals. I didn’t get to go, of course. I got to stay home and go to work to pay for the fun that everyone else was having – which would be my primary contribution to most of our equine pursuits. By all accounts, it was a terrific event. Any time you’re in a national championship in anything it’s bound to be a really cool experience. But it got me thinking that what we really need is a truly unique Canadian National Horse Sport. We have lots of land, we have a national horse, we even have a National Mounted Police force – so why not a national horse sport? The Prince Phillip Games competition that my kids were involved in was great, but it’s hardly uniquely Canadian – they do it in pretty much every country in the world. Same with horse racing, polo, dressage, and pretty much anything else I could think of.
I came to the conclusion that I needed to invent the perfect horse sport, and then let it travel the world. Our country has a long history of doing this. The first games of football, baseball, and hockey were all played in Canada, and even basketball was invented by a Canadian living in the US. There is, of course, the very real threat that Americans will take over the game, add an extra down for no good reason, institute a “fair catch” rule, and slow things down to a crawl by allowing a 45-second clock, however.
While I have no idea what this sport will ultimately look like, there are some basic elements that are non-negotiable. There will be NO JUDGES. Success will be measured against time, or an opponent, or physics – 100 per cent objective. The ball is in the net, the rail is still on the fence, or one competitor was the fastest over the line (or is too injured to continue). Any activity involving a judge, subjectivity or style points, is not a sport – it’s a perversion of sport.